1973 NBA Finals

1973 NBA Finals

The 1973 NBA Championship Series was the championship series of the 1972–73 National Basketball Association (NBA) season, and the culmination of that season's playoffs. The Eastern Conference champion New York Knicks defeated the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers 4 games to 1 to win their second championship. The series was an exact reversal of the prior year, this time with the Lakers winning Game 1 and the Knicks taking the next four games. Knicks center Willis Reed was named as the NBA Finals MVP.

Background

Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers entered the 1973 NBA playoffs as co-favorites in the West with the Milwaukee Bucks, but both teams faced inspired opponents in the first round. The Chicago Bulls gave the Lakers all they could handle before the Lakers came from behind in Game 7 to take the series. The Lakers next faced the Golden State Warriors for the Western Conference championship (the Warriors had upset the Bucks in six games). In Game 1, the Lakers won by 2, and in Game 2 the Lakers won by 10. In Game 3 at Oakland, the Lakers routed the Warriors 126–70, but the Warriors won Game 4 to send the series back to Los Angeles. In the Forum, the Lakers took Game 5 and advanced to their fifth NBA Finals series in six seasons.

New York Knicks

One year after their NBA Finals loss, the Knicks were back in the playoffs. For some of the Knicks, including Jerry Lucas and Earl Monroe, this was probably their last shot at an NBA title. In the first round they paired against the Baltimore Bullets. The Knicks won games 1 and 2 in New York, but lost Game 3 at Baltimore (in that game, the Bullets used a strange lineup of two centers and three guards). New York would take Games 4 and 5 and Walt Frazier averaged 20 points per game in this series. In the Conference finals, the Knicks faced the 68–14 Boston Celtics, who not only had the league's best record but also, to that point, the third-best won-lost record in NBA history. The Celtics routed New York, 134–108, Game 1 at the Boston Garden, but the Knicks returned the favor with a 129–96 rout in Game 2 at Madison Square Garden. The Knicks then beat the Celtics in Game 3 in Boston, and took a 3–1 series lead with a double overtime Easter Sunday win back in New York. Boston came back with two critical wins, winning 98–97 in Boston on two Paul Silas free throws, then regaining the home-court advantage with a 110–100 win at New York in Game 6. For Game 7, however, the Celtics were without their star John Havlicek, who was nursing an elbow injury. In that Game 7, played in Boston, the Celtics unbeaten record in seventh games played in Boston Garden was snapped when New York won easily, 94–78.

Road to the Finals

Los Angeles Lakers (Western Conference champion)		New York Knicks (Eastern Conference champion)
2nd seed in the West, 3rd best league record	Regular season	2nd seed in the East, 4th best league record
#	Western Conference
Team	W	L	PCT
1	z-Milwaukee Bucks	60	22	.732
2	y-Los Angeles Lakers	60	22	.732
3	x-Chicago Bulls	51	31	.622
4	x-Golden State Warriors	47	35	.573
5	Detroit Pistons	40	42	.488
6	Phoenix Suns	38	44	.463
7	Kansas City–Omaha Kings	36	46	.439
8	Seattle SuperSonics	26	56	.317
9	Portland Trail Blazers	21	61	.256
#	Eastern Conference
Team	W	L	PCT
1	z-Boston Celtics	68	14	.829
2	x-New York Knicks	57	25	.695
3	y-Baltimore Bullets	52	30	.634
4	x-Atlanta Hawks	46	36	.561
5	Houston Rockets	33	49	.402
6	Cleveland Cavaliers	32	50	.390
7	Buffalo Braves	21	61	.256
8	Philadelphia 76ers	9	73	.110
Defeated the (3) Chicago Bulls, 4–3	Division Semifinals	Defeated the (2) Baltimore Bullets, 4–1
Defeated the (4) Golden State Warriors, 4–1	Division Finals	Defeated the (1) Boston Celtics, 4–3

Series summary

1973 NBA Finals

After losing the first game, the Knicks reeled off four straight wins to reclaim the NBA title. This is the Knicks' most recent NBA Championship to date. New York would not make it back to the NBA Finals until (/wiki/1994NBAFinals).

This would also be the last Finals appearance of the decade for the Lakers. Their next appearance would be in (/wiki/1980NBAFinals), which would be the first of nine Finals appearances in 12 years for the franchise.

Game	Date	Home team	Result	Road team
Game 1	May 1	Los Angeles Lakers	115–112 (1–0)	New York Knicks
Game 2	May 3	Los Angeles Lakers	95–99 (1–1)	New York Knicks
Game 3	May 6	New York Knicks	87–83 (2–1)	Los Angeles Lakers
Game 4	May 8	New York Knicks	103–98 (3–1)	Los Angeles Lakers
Game 5	May 10	Los Angeles Lakers	93–102 (1–4)	New York Knicks

This was the only NBA Championship for Jerry Lucas and Earl Monroe.

Game 5 of the series was Wilt Chamberlain's last game played in the NBA. Chamberlain scored the last points of the game, and of his career, on an uncontested fast break dunk with one second remaining.

ABC televised its last NBA Finals, until (/wiki/2003NBAFinals). This is, to date, the last time a New York/Los Angeles NBA Finals of any combination has taken place, as well as the fifth-to-last championship series contested by both cities in any sport (the 1981 World Series is the last matchup in the 20th century, and the 2024 World Series is the latest).

Team rosters

New York Knicks

Players	Coaches
	Head coach Assistant(s) Legend Roster Updated: 1973–05–10
Pos.	No.	Player	Height	Weight	DOB	From
SG	12	Dick Barnett	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	190 lb (86 kg)	1936–10–02	Tennessee State
PG	17	Henry Bibby	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1949–11–24	UCLA
SF	24	Bill Bradley	6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)	205 lb (93 kg)	1943–07–28	Princeton
PF	22	Dave DeBusschere	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	1940–10–16	Detroit Mercy
PG	10	Walt Frazier	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)	200 lb (91 kg)	1945–03–29	Southern Illinois
C	40	John Gianelli	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	1950–06–10	Pacific
PF	18	Phil Jackson	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	220 lb (100 kg)	1945–09–17	North Dakota
PF	32	Jerry Lucas	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	230 lb (104 kg)	1940–03–30	Ohio State
SG	7	Dean Meminger	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)	175 lb (79 kg)	1948–05–13	Marquette
SG	15	Earl Monroe	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)	185 lb (84 kg)	1944–11–21	Winston-Salem State
C	19	Willis Reed	6 ft 9 in (2.06 m)	235 lb (107 kg)	1942–06–25	Grambling State
C	6	Tom Riker	6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)	225 lb (102 kg)	1950–02–28	South Carolina
F	43	Harthorne Wingo	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)	210 lb (95 kg)	1947–09–09	Friendship College

Los Angeles Lakers

<table><thead><tr><th>Players</th><th>Coaches</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td></td><td>Head coach Legend Roster Updated: 2013-03-22</td></tr><tr><td>Pos.</td><td>No.</td><td>Player</td><td>Height</td><td>Weight</td><td>DOB</td><td>From</td></tr><tr><td>PF</td><td>32</td><td>Bill Bridges</td><td>6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)</td><td>228 lb (103 kg)</td><td>1939-04-04</td><td>Kansas</td></tr><tr><td>C</td><td>30</td><td>Roger Brown</td><td>6 ft 11 in (2.11 m)</td><td>225 lb (102 kg)</td><td>1950-02-23</td><td>Kansas</td></tr><tr><td>C</td><td>13</td><td>Wilt Chamberlain</td><td>7 ft 1 in (2.16 m)</td><td>275 lb (125 kg)</td><td>1936-08-21</td><td>Kansas</td></tr><tr><td>C</td><td>31</td><td>Mel Counts</td><td>7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)</td><td>230 lb (104 kg)</td><td>1941-10-16</td><td>Oregon State</td></tr><tr><td>C</td><td>14</td><td>Leroy Ellis</td><td>6 ft 10 in (2.08 m)</td><td>210 lb (95 kg)</td><td>1940-03-10</td><td>St. John's</td></tr><tr><td>SF</td><td>24</td><td>Keith Erickson</td><td>6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)</td><td>195 lb (88 kg)</td><td>1944-04-19</td><td>UCLA</td></tr><tr><td>SG</td><td>25</td><td>Gail Goodrich</td><td>6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)</td><td>170 lb (77 kg)</td><td>1943-04-23</td><td>UCLA</td></tr><tr><td>SF</td><td>33</td><td>Travis Grant</td><td>6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)</td><td>215 lb (98 kg)</td><td>1950-01-01</td><td>Kentucky State</td></tr><tr><td>PF</td><td>52</td><td>Happy Hairston</td><td>6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)</td><td>255 lb (116 kg)</td><td>1942-05-31</td><td>NYU</td></tr><tr><td>SF</td><td>5</td><td>Jim McMillian</td><td>6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)</td><td>225 lb (102 kg)</td><td>1948-03-11</td><td>Columbia</td></tr><tr><td>PG</td><td>15</td><td>Jim Price</td><td>6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)</td><td>195 lb (88 kg)</td><td>1949-11-27</td><td>Louisville</td></tr><tr><td>SG</td><td>12</td><td>Pat Riley</td><td>6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)</td><td>205 lb (93 kg)</td><td>1945-03-20</td><td>Kentucky</td></tr><tr><td>SG</td><td>21</td><td>Flynn Robinson</td><td>6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)</td><td>185 lb (84 kg)</td><td>1941-04-28</td><td>Wyoming</td></tr><tr><td>SF</td><td>31</td><td>John Trapp</td><td>6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)</td><td>210 lb (95 kg)</td><td>1945-10-02</td><td>UNLV</td></tr><tr><td>PF</td><td>30</td><td>Bill Turner</td><td>6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)</td><td>220 lb (100 kg)</td><td>1944-02-18</td><td>Akron</td></tr><tr><td>PG</td><td>44</td><td>Jerry West</td><td>6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)</td><td>175 lb (79 kg)</td><td>1938-05-28</td><td>West Virginia</td></tr></tbody></table>